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Commercial Roof Inspection

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Last week I did a commercial roof inspection for a previous client over at Palm Coast. What I noticed when flying, I was fighting the drone to make simple maneuvers and stay in a straight line.? I was somewhat expecting issues, since the building had power lines a few trees and was a solid brick building.
It was a bit stressful, like a force field keeping me from moving forward from time to time. ?
As I flew gingerly closer to the building the H would wobble backing up a couple feet or so, I managed using more forward stick but with a lot of stubbornness from the H.?
No it wasn't calibration or the throttle stick issues, to make sure it wasn't that, I backed out about 75' the H did well flying.
So the moral of this flight, expect the unordinary have patience, and drink plenty of water, it was hot and humid even thought I got there 9:30 in the morning.?
41:33 of flight and 3 batteries.
 
Last week I did a commercial roof inspection for a previous client over at Palm Coast. What I noticed when flying, I was fighting the drone to make simple maneuvers and stay in a straight line.? I was somewhat expecting issues, since the building had power lines a few trees and was a solid brick building.
It was a bit stressful, like a force field keeping me from moving forward from time to time. ?
As I flew gingerly closer to the building the H would wobble backing up a couple feet or so, I managed using more forward stick but with a lot of stubbornness from the H.?
No it wasn't calibration or the throttle stick issues, to make sure it wasn't that, I backed out about 75' the H did well flying.
So the moral of this flight, expect the unordinary have patience, and drink plenty of water, it was hot and humid even thought I got there 9:30 in the morning.?
41:33 of flight and 3 batteries.
You weren't one of the guys storming Area 51?
 
Power lines and trees, not a good mix. Any other source of EMI/RFI that you noticed?
 
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Last week I did a commercial roof inspection for a previous client over at Palm Coast. What I noticed when flying, I was fighting the drone to make simple maneuvers and stay in a straight line.? I was somewhat expecting issues, since the building had power lines a few trees and was a solid brick building.
It was a bit stressful, like a force field keeping me from moving forward from time to time. ?
As I flew gingerly closer to the building the H would wobble backing up a couple feet or so, I managed using more forward stick but with a lot of stubbornness from the H.?
No it wasn't calibration or the throttle stick issues, to make sure it wasn't that, I backed out about 75' the H did well flying.
So the moral of this flight, expect the unordinary have patience, and drink plenty of water, it was hot and humid even thought I got there 9:30 in the morning.?
41:33 of flight and 3 batteries.
I did a roof and high gutter inspection of a church a couple of weeks ago and experienced similar to you. Turned out to be a rather difficult job to do. Like you, I flew the H out some distance where it started flying normally. The church was of a traditional nature (for the U.K.) built of stonework. I had previously attempted the same job a few weeks before using a P2V+ where I had to abandon the job because of the aircraft was so unstable near to the church.
gut17.jpg
 
Last week I did a commercial roof inspection for a previous client over at Palm Coast. What I noticed when flying, I was fighting the drone to make simple maneuvers and stay in a straight line.? I was somewhat expecting issues, since the building had power lines a few trees and was a solid brick building.
It was a bit stressful, like a force field keeping me from moving forward from time to time. ?
As I flew gingerly closer to the building the H would wobble backing up a couple feet or so, I managed using more forward stick but with a lot of stubbornness from the H.?
No it wasn't calibration or the throttle stick issues, to make sure it wasn't that, I backed out about 75' the H did well flying.
So the moral of this flight, expect the unordinary have patience, and drink plenty of water, it was hot and humid even thought I got there 9:30 in the morning.?
41:33 of flight and 3 batteries.
The building may have had steel roof joists.
Big steel is rarely degaused and can cause compass errors.
Check your log for unusual compass errors.
 
No it wasn't calibration or the throttle stick issues, to make sure it wasn't that, I backed out about 75' the H did well flying.
I had the same experience with the H Plus on Wed. Flew over a slate roof which was installed in 1922. Wood and stone construction. Each attempt to get closer to the chimney was erratic. In hover there was drift vertically and horizontally. Flying farther away, the flight was stable.

YUN_0022-edit.jpg YUN_0007.JPEG
 
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It's interesting how much interference there is when close to structures, like I mentioned I was somewhat expecting this.
I'm happy to here this isn't a fluke.
When I here of folks flying close to any structure home or commercial, then wonder why they crashed or prematurely discredit the drone ability to fly perfectly, wellllll, duhhhhh!
A simple structure like this inspection is always cause to be on your guard.
YUN011.m4v_000277577.png
 
I gave my client 41 minutes of raw video, unedited from take off to landings, and expressed why he'll see erratic flying.
He was very delighted and impressed how well the video came out, (clarity of the video) happy customer!:cool:
 
Wow, is that a copper roof?!
It is slate tiles. The flashing around the chimney is copper. If you zoom in on the slate below the chimney you can see how the copper has kept the slate in pristine condition. It seems to prevent mildew, algae and moss from growing. Slate costs about $6000 per square (installed price) and should last about 150 yrs.
 
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It is slate tiles. The flashing around the chimney is copper. If you zoom in on the slate below the chimney you can see how the copper has kept the slate in pristine condition. It seems to prevent mildew, algae and moss from growing. Slate costs about $6000 per square (installed price) and should last about 150 yrs.
That's an old trick to fit a copper wire at the ridge to kill moss etc. I use to fit complete copper roofs, a dying skill now, not many of us left who can use those metals, or bend a 4 inch diameter lead pipe into bend.
 
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I sort of look at a roof as a type of flying environment that introduces completely different flying conditions than the surrounding environment. A couple things to consider.

They abruptly jump up out of the ground, disrupting area wind patterns while creating their own micro up and down drafts. They absorb and reflect a considerable amount of heat, often radiating temperatures 40-70*F higher than ambient. Both of those impacts aircraft stability and performance.
 
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Beside wind up and down drafts:
In a local thermal from a hot roof, the hot air rising is less dense.
The barometer then tells the FC the craft is ascending.
The FC then suddenly descends the craft.
Always a pilot pucker factor.
PS: This video was made with "old shakey", a CX20/F450
The Typhoon H is much steadier.
 
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While reading the first few posts, my first thought was "Is the OA turned on preventing them from getting closer and pushing him back? The later posts mentioning the wind and heat environment affecting flight stability was a good reminder as I have been fortunate enough not to have encountered those issues yet. I know these are issues flying over mountain ridges and between tall buildings in the city, but did not expect them on a single story home.

I was surprised at the amount of instability in Sureshot's video. I have flown construction jobs in 38mph winds with even higher gusts using the H480 and it maintains a stable flight. The gusts would cause the motors to rev up a little to keep its position. Was your problem due to the winds only or with a combination of wind and heat (did not mention how hot it was). Was the GPS turned off? Not knocking or criticizing, Just surprised and wanting to learn.

Thanks to all for the new knowledge!
 
While reading the first few posts, my first thought was "Is the OA turned on preventing them from getting closer and pushing him back? The later posts mentioning the wind and heat environment affecting flight stability was a good reminder as I have been fortunate enough not to have encountered those issues yet. I know these are issues flying over mountain ridges and between tall buildings in the city, but did not expect them on a single story home.

I was surprised at the amount of instability in Sureshot's video. I have flown construction jobs in 38mph winds with even higher gusts using the H480 and it maintains a stable flight. The gusts would cause the motors to rev up a little to keep its position. Was your problem due to the winds only or with a combination of wind and heat (did not mention how hot it was). Was the GPS turned off? Not knocking or criticizing, Just surprised and wanting to learn.

Thanks to all for the new knowledge!
He wasn't flying the H. Looked like it was his other bird, the f450?
 
While reading the first few posts, my first thought was "Is the OA turned on preventing them from getting closer and pushing him back? The later posts mentioning the wind and heat environment affecting flight stability was a good reminder as I have been fortunate enough not to have encountered those issues yet. I know these are issues flying over mountain ridges and between tall buildings in the city, but did not expect them on a single story home.

I was surprised at the amount of instability in Sureshot's video. I have flown construction jobs in 38mph winds with even higher gusts using the H480 and it maintains a stable flight. The gusts would cause the motors to rev up a little to keep its position. Was your problem due to the winds only or with a combination of wind and heat (did not mention how hot it was). Was the GPS turned off? Not knocking or criticizing, Just surprised and wanting to learn.

Thanks to all for the new knowledge!

A single story home roof can provide ample rising hot air for a turkey vulture to avoid having to flap its wings in flight.

A small tree can, and will, disrupt the airflow from wind and create enough atmospheric instability to make landing an RC airplane difficult.

To visualize all that lay a garden hose on flat concrete and observe the water flow. Then do the same after placing various sized small rocks on the flat concrete. A very basic example of fluid dynamics.
 

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